Double Delights (and triples too....)

So, Wasim Jaffer did manage a good 192 yesterday against Pakistan and is purpoted to have missed the "rare" feat of scoring 200 runs in a day because of the bad light conditions preventing him from playing another 5.3 overs or so. Its a different matter that the past 5.3 overs or so, he played pretty slowly and moved from 190-192 in that period.

Anyway, coming back to our rare feat of scoring 200 runs in a day, in the long history of Cricket, the feat of scoring 200 or more has been achieved 37 times with one of those innings extending to 300 also. It was scored by the Don on 11-Jul-1930. Those scored more than 250 in a day include Don Bradman (twice), W Hammond, Dennis Compton.

In fact the Don achieved the feat of scoring more than 200 on a amazing 6 occassions. Others who have done it more than once are W Hammond, Brian Lara and Aravinda De Silva. The specific list of their performances are:

Player	Runs	Team	Opposition	Match Date
DG Bradman	309	Australia	v England	11150
DG Bradman	271	Australia	v England	12620
DG Bradman	244	Australia	v England	12649
DG Bradman	223	Australia	v West Indies	11339
DG Bradman	201	Australia	v India	17555
DG Bradman	200	Australia	v South Africa	11654

Player	Runs	Team	Opposition	Match Date
WR Hammond	295	England	v New Zealand	12144
WR Hammond	223	England	v New Zealand	12137
WR Hammond	217	England	v India	13377
WR Hammond	210	England	v Australia	14055

Player	Runs	Team	Opposition	Match Date
BC Lara	227	West Indies	v England	38087
BC Lara	205	West Indies	v Australia	36232
BC Lara	202	West Indies	v Australia	38681

Player	Runs	Team	Opposition	Match Date
PA de Silva	206	Sri Lanka	v Bangladesh	37458
PA de Silva	203	Sri Lanka	v New Zealand	33269

More detailed records can be obtained from Cricinfo's page on most runs in a day.

ps: Please forgive the poor formatting. I am posting this out of the borrowed laptop of my Mama-in-law, which, in his own admission, is in a pretty poor shape, and off a poor Reliance Info Card connection. This might continue to be the case while I am on my Campus recruiting trip.

Eden Even

I will make today's post relevant to today's test match between India and Pakistan. As of now, India are batting at 43/1. In the past, India have played 34 test matches with 8 victories and 8 defeats. Interesting, Pakistan's record is no different. Out of 6 matches played here, they have won 1 and lost 1 with all others being draws. Thats even Eden for both...

Interesting, between Indo-Pak matches, the two victories that have come about, both have come about by teams who won the toss and elected to bat. So, India, that way have history on their side. Of course, that matters for very little...

Indian Victory, 16-20 March 2005
by 195 runs (Dravid 110 & 135, Younis Khan 147, Mohd. Yousuf 104, Kumble 7/63)

Pakistan Victory, 16-20 feb 1999
by 46 runs (Saeed Anwar 188, Shoaib Akhtar 4/71 &4/47, Javagal Srinath 8/71)

Kings of Ducks goes to Atapattu

Of sucessful batsmen in International Test Cricket (those who have scored 5000+ in their career), lets see how players faired with respect to getting off the mark. Three players have more than 20 Ducks:

Name	Matches	Innings	Runs	Ducks
SR Waugh	168	260	10927	22
MS Atapattu	90	156	5502	22
MA Atherton	115	212	7728	20

But if you convert the metrics to look at how may innings a batsman goes through before hitting a duck, the picture is quite different. I have considered players with Innings/Duck being less than 12. For those above 12, you can be rest assured that they can go through 2 series of about 7-8 matches without scoring a duck!! Atapattu is clearly the King of Ducks now. Gilchrist also has an alarmingly high share of ducks in his innings, with Michael Atherton and Mark Waugh following closely.

Name	Matches	Innings	Runs	Ducks	Innings/Duck
MS Atapattu	90	156	5502	22	7.09
AC Gilchrist	92	130	5420	14	9.29
MA Atherton	115	212	7728	20	10.6
ME Waugh	128	209	8029	19	11
SP Fleming	106	181	6774	16	11.31
DG Bradman	52	80	6996	7	11.43
IT Botham	102	161	5200	14	11.5
N Kapil Dev	131	184	5248	16	11.5
SR Waugh	168	260	10927	22	11.82
DC Boon	107	190	7422	16	11.88
ME Trescothick	76	143	5825	12	11.92

Those who go through the maximum innings without a duck are:

Name	Matches	Innings	Runs	Ducks	Innings/Duck
KD Walters	74	125	5357	4	31.25
Javed Miandad	124	189	8832	6	31.5
R Dravid	113	193	9564	6	32.17
WR Hammond	85	140	7249	4	35
MA Taylor	104	186	7525	5	37.2
CH Lloyd	110	175	7515	4	43.75

Indians faired in the following manner with kapil Dev going through least Innings before scoring a duck and Rahul Dravid going through the most. Hardly any surprises there!!

Player	Span	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	Ave	0	Innings/Duck
N Kapil Dev	1978-1994	131	184	15	5248	31.05	16	11.5
VVS Laxman	1996-2007	84	137	18	5161	43.36	9	15.22
SC Ganguly	1996-2007	97	157	14	5868	41.03	9	17.44
SR Tendulkar	1989-2007	141	228	24	11207	54.93	13	17.54
SM Gavaskar	1971-1987	125	214	16	10122	51.12	12	17.83
M Azharuddin	1984-2000	99	147	9	6215	45.03	5	29.4
R Dravid	1996-2007	113	193	23	9564	56.25	6	32.17

Any comments?

Afridi 5000 at 110

Shahid Afridi is the only player to have amassed more than 5000 runs in ODI having a strike rate of more than 100. Vital statistics:

Matches: 249
Innings: 237
Not Outs: 12
Runs: 5239
Highest: 109
Ave: 23.28
Balls Faced: 4757
Strike Rate: 110.13
100s/50s/0s: 4/28/21


Others with high strike rates (>90%) are:

Virender Sehwag (5231at 96.88)
Adam Gilchrist (9246 at 96.66)
Sanath Jayasuriya (12207 at 90.40)
Viv Richards (6721 at 90.20)